Toronto beaches closed due to high bacteria levels

After this week's heavy rain, the city of Toronto had to bypass water treatment plants in order to avoid flooding. That means untreated water, including sewage, went directly into Lake Ontario. Katherine Ward has more.

While Ashbridges Bay waste water treatment plant was bypassed for about three and a half hours. That lead to roughly 127-thousand cubic meters of untreated sewer water going directly into the lake.

Despite the fact the water is untreated, officials said what’s being pumped into the lake is mostly rain water. The ratio breaks down to about four or five parts rain water to one part sewage. Despite the closure, hundreds of paddlers went ahead with their practice, under the watchful eye of Blake Hara who helps out at the Sunnyside Paddling club.

“The reality is that we paddle here almost every day. We’ve never had any serious situations in terms of E. Coli or infection,” Hara said.

“In the past though when the E. coli is high, sometimes teams would cancel, but that hasn’t happened today.”

Their goal Thursday tonight was to stay well above the water and not get splashed.